Samuel f



s. P. ALLEN. TORPEDO FOR RAILWAY SIGNALS.

(No Model.)

Patented Mai"; 3, 1885.

WITNESSES:

' INVENTOR a www fflaW b ATTORNEYS.

Mrs rrns atent Orri cisi SAMUEL F. ALLEN, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS, ASSIGNOR OE TvVO-THIRDS TO THOMAS R. FREEMAN AND JAMES S. TOPPAN, BOTH OF SAME PLACE.

TORPEDO FOR RAILWAY-SIGNALS.

SPECEFIOATIQH forming part of Letters Patent No. 313,151, dated March 3, 1885.

Application filed Novemher 26, 1893. (No model.)

.To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, SAMUEL F. ALLEN, of Chicago, county of Cook, and State of lllinois, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Torpedoes for RailwaySignals, of which the following is a full, clear, and exact description, that will enable others to make and use the same, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, forming a part of this specification.

This invention relates to an improvement in torpedoes used for signals on railways, the object being to provide means for attaching the torpedo to the rail in such a manner as to guard against all possibility of the same be ing detached or misplaced.

The invention therefore consists of a torpedo having a permanent magnet for attaching it to the rail.

It further consists in making the magnet in the form of spring-arms, which overlap the rail, or the spring-arms may be provided with magnets.

It further consists of constructions and combinations of parts, all as will hereinafter be described.

Figure 1 is a plan view. Fig. 2 is a side elevation; Fig. 3, a transverse section, and Fig. 4 a view of a part of one of the clamping-arms broken away.

Referring to the drawings, A represents a piece of a Trail, B a torpedo, and O O the spring-arms, for securing the torpedo to the rail in the required position.

The attaching device is ordinarily constrncted of a single piece of steel, the torpedo being fastened in any suitable manner to the strap part c, which passes across the top of the rail, the ends being bent downward, to form the spring clamping-arms G C. These arms, after leaving the edge of the torpedo, are made to conform to the ball of the rail, the extreme lower ends being bent outward from the rail at an oblique angle, so as to prevent the same from having contact with and raising the torpedo from the track after the samehas been deposited on the rail. The

arms are magnetized and provided with the roughened contacting surface I), for the purpose of causing them to adhere more securely to the rail. and preventing the possibility of the torpedo being accidentally misplaced be fore the same is exploded. The spring clampingarms may be made without the connecting strap passing underneath the torpedo, and may be attached simply to the edge of the same, thus having the two arms entirely separate from each other.

Torpedoes provided with the spring clamping-arn1s are especially intended for use in connection with the device patented to me October 9, 1883, No. 286,249, for depositing torpedoes on railway-tracks from a train in motion. The springarms are necessary, in order to withdraw the torpedoes from the pockets in the rotating wheel, as well as to attach them in a secure manner to the rail. If the clamping-arms did not partake of a spring-like character, and were not made smaller, in order to spread apart when brought incontact with the rail, they could not be placed in position from a moving train. Ordinarily torpedoes of this class are placed on the -track by hand. and are secured to the rail by straps of .soft metal, usually of lead, running down on each side, which are pressed underneath the ball of the rail by the thumb and fingers. This being the case, it is therefore obvious that it is a necessity to have torpedoes provided with clamping-arms of a special construction, in order to adapt the same to be deposited on the track from the device referred to in the above patent.

I am aware that the use of spring clampingarms for attaching torpedoes to a railwaytrack is not new. I therefore do not broadly claim such features.

Having thus described inyinvention, what I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

1. A torpedo having a permanent magnet for securing it in position, substantially as de scribed.

2. As a new article of manufacture, a railway torpedo signal provided with spring clamping or attaching arms that are magnetized, substantially as set forth.

3. The combination,with a railway torpedosignal. of the magnetized spring clampingattaching the torpedo to said rail in such a IO arms having a roughened contacting surface, manner as to prevent the same from being whereby said torpedoi's adapted to be securely accidentally misplaced, substantially as set attached to a railway-track from a moving forth.

5 train, substantially as set forth.

4:. The c01nbinati0n,witharailway torpedo I SAMUEL ALLEN signal, of the magnetized attaching-arms O G, WVitnesses: having the inner 0r frictional contacting sur L. M. FREEMAN,

faces roughened, and the track-rail B, thereby O. S. J ONES. 

